Transfer mechanism.



D. F. CRAWFORD. TRANSFER MEGHANISM.

APPLIoATIoN FILED DB0. 13. 1909.

1;ooo,585.

Patented Aug. 15, 1911.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 1.

l A A A D. P. CRAWFORD. l TRANSFER MEGHANISM.

APPLIOATION'IILED 13110.13., 1909..

Patented Aug. 15, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

il ---1-1mm www %M en sans ATN GIFECE.

TRANSFER MECHANISM.

Application filed December 13, 1909. Serial No.'532,9-15.

fied arrangement wherein no joints `or conneetions are required in the transfer chute employed; the provision'of a'n improved chute construction an'd improved means for p supporting it; the provisio'f ari improved construction forbreaking up' 'andv feeding the coal throughfthe'chute employed; and

the provision of improved feed flaps in' the 7 One embodiment. of the in'ventioir chute. 1s illustrated 1n the accompanying drawmgs7 V wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through the mechanism as applied to a locomotive and tender; l

Figure `2 is a"part i`al plan view taken above the floor of the'tender,"

Figure 3 is a half secti'on taken on'the line III-HI of Figure 1` and f Figure 4 is an enlarged detail section of one of the operating flaps with the `stop rod employed therewith.

'Referring to the drawings, the principal parts may be briefly enumerated as follows; 1 is'the fire-box of the locomotive. which may be of anyapproved type; 2 is a rcceivingbr feed chamber' which opens into the'tire-box, and from which the coal is forced by means of the piston 3; 4 is a steam cylinder located at the side of the tireboX and'furnishing the power for operating the fe'edpiston 5 is a transverse shaft carrying the crank arm 6 connected'to the piston -of the steam cylinder, and the crank arms 7 carrying the connecting rods 7 from which the feed piston 3 is reciproca-ted, there being a crank arm 7 'and connecting rod 7 on each side of the feed 'chamber 2; 8 is the tender of the locomotive provided in its bottom with the'casti-ng 9 in which is a vertical outlet passage 10 and a transverse passage 11; 12 is a piston working inthe trans verse passage 11 and adapted to feed the coal rearwardly and crush up the larger' lumps, such piston being provided with series of stirring rods 12 to preventthe coal from bridging above the outlet passage 1G; 13 is the hopper into which the coal from the passage 11 is discharged; 14. is a chute having its top open to receive the discharge from the hopper 13 and extending forwardly to a position above the feed chamber 2 of the locomotive,- the bottom of such chute being open above the feed chamber 2 lto permit a' discharge thereto; 15 is a feed vpiston working' in the rear end of the chute 14 and adapted to give the coal discharged into the chute from the hopp'er 18, its preliminary forward movement; and 1G are a serieso'f feed flaps or' plates for advancing the fuel through tl1e'chute'14i The chute 14 is preferably made of sheet metal andis provided at its'upper inner' edges with channels 17 Mounted in these channels are theoperating rods 18 upon which theffeed iaps 16 are pivotally supported. -As indicated'in Figure 3 each flap' consists of a plurality'ofindependently movable strips or fingers, which divided arrangement incre'ase's the efficiency of the flaps as a lump of coal'lodged beneath the. flap can render only a portion of the strips ineffectivefinsteadofthe whole Hap being held up, as is the ease where the flaps are made in one piece. Rods 19 are provided upon the bars 18 against. which the stopsv 2O on the strips forming the flaps 16 are adapted to engage, so that the ap s,'\vliile free to swing forwardly, are prevented. from swinging rearwardly. The bars 18 are conL nected at their rear ends with the piston 15; so that when the bars are reciprocated to move the flaps 1G, the piston 15 is also re ciprocated. The piston 12 is reciproeated bv means of a pair of connecting rods 21 (Figs. 1 and 2). arranged on either side thereof and having pivotal connection at their ends tothe transverse shaft 22 through the piston 3. .The bars 18 and 'the piston 15 are reciprocated from the straft h v means ofithe crank'arms 5 on the shaft 5 and connecting rods 23. wh'i'ch com'ieeting rods are -pivoted at their'front ends to the upper endsof 'the crankfarms 5"; and at their rear ends to ablock 24 secured to the 'bars 18. YThe crank arms 5 arc'made of greater' length than the crank arms 7 which perate the p'istons' and 12 in order thatj it 1e feed of the Haps'16 in the chute naiv be Specification of Letters Patent.A Patented Aug. 15, 11911.`

relatively greater than that of the pistons 3 and 12, thus avoiding the danger of clogginal in the chute' and rendering the feed more free. The chute 14 rests at its front end upon a supporting block 25 on the l0- comotive, and is freely movable in all directions upon such support. Ati'ts rear portion the chute is trunnioned upon a pair ofbearings 26 mounted upon the tender, and the plate 27 carrying the bearing is pivoted at 2S, the arrangement thus providing for 4relative uniyersal movement between the tender and locomotive without cramping or twisting the chute, and without interfering with the operating mechanism in any manner. rPhe chute 14 is provided with an opening above the piston 3, so that the opera-tor is enabled toA supplement the feed of the conveyer by hand if desired, such opening being protected by. a door` 29. The discharge end of the passage 11 is enlarged (Fig. l) to avoid a too great and undesirable breaking of the coal at this point.

The .operation of the mechanism. will be readily understood from the foregoing description. The coal in t-he tender feeds by gravity into the lateral passage 11, and the piston 12 not only serves to` feed this coal rearwardly into the hopper 13, but also serves to break up the larger lumps so that all danger of clogging is avoided during the passage of the fuel through the chute 14, and no hand labor is necessary to reduce the 'coal to proper size for use in the fire-box.

As the piston 12 moves rearwardly to permit a fresh charge of fuel to fall inffront thereof, the piston 15 moves forwardly forcing the coal fed into the chute forwardly to a position where it can be engaged by the rear flaps 16. These flaps 16 forward the fuel to the chute step-bystep until it falls by gravity through the bot-tom of the chute into the feed chamber 2, and is then forced into the fire-box by the piston 3.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is the following:- l

1. In combination in apparatus for supplying coal to a locomotive fire-box, a tender provided with a gravity discharge passage, a piston working means for reciprocating the piston, a forwarding chute to which the piston discharges, reciprocating forwarding means therein, and means for reciprocating the forwarding means,L the stroke of the forwarding means being greater than that of the piston.

2. In combination inl apparatus forsuptransversely thereof,

plying coal to a locomotive fire-box, a tender provided with `a gravity discharge passage, a piston working transversely thereof, a feed piston for feeding the fuel to the firebox, a chute intermediate the two pistons provided with a reciprocatory forwardingmeans, a rock shaft, crank arms thereon of different length for operating the feed piston and the forwarding means respectively, connecting rods extending between the crank arms and the forwarding means and feed piston, and a connecting rod between the feed piston and the first mentioned piston, the crank arm for operating the forwar-ding means being longer than the-crank arm for operating the feed piston.

3. In combination' in apparatus for supplying coal to a locomotive firebox, a tender provided with a gravity discharge passage, a piston working transversely thereof, a feed piston for feeding the fuel to the lireboX, a chute intermediate the two pistons provided wit-h a reciprocatory forwarding means, and means for operating the pistons and the forwarding means, the said chute being provided in its top above the feed piston with an opening to vpermit of an auxiliary hand feed.

4. In combination in transfer mechanism, a transfer chute, a piston in the chute for giving material supplied in front thereof a preliminary forward feed, reciprocatory forwarding means in-front of the piston for moving the material step-bystep through the chute, and mechanism for reciprocating the piston and forwarding means, the stroke of the forwarding means being greater than that of the piston.

5. In combination in apparatus for supplying coal t'o a locomotive fre-boX, a trans fer chute, reciprocatory operating means mounted for movement longitudinally of the chute, yand a plurality of forwarding fiaps carried by said operating means pivoted to swing freely forward but held against movement in the reverse. direction, and each consisting of a plurality of parts freely movable independently of each other, the said parts having their opposing side edges closely adjacent each other so that together they form substantially continuous flaps.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of the two subscribed wit-nesses.

DAVID F. CRAWFORD. Witnesses HARVEY L. LECHNER, DoERING BELLINGER.

ICopies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0f Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

